Question: Where should perl scripts be placed if I want to access them through AJAX?

I was thinking of developing a plugin using AJAX. If I wanted to call a perl script on the server, where should I put it? I was assuming it would be under /lib/TWiki/Plugins/MyPlugin/..., but access is forbidden. Have I got my server set up wrong or is there a better place to put it, like under bin/?

-- Contributors: AndrewRJones - 30 Mar 2007

Discussion

Only the twiki/bin/ directory is cgi-bin enabled, so that is a logical choice. We have a recommended places to store plugin internal data (see TWikiPlugins, and for plugin code (in/below twiki/lib/TWiki/Plugins/), but we do not yet have a standard for additional cgi-bin scripts. I think the important part is make the script identifyable. For example, if you work on a CoolPlugin, your scripts could be in twiki/bin/CoolPlugin/.

-- PeterThoeny - 30 Mar 2007

I think that the REST interface of TWiki can be used for that purpose while not requiring a separate file in twiki/bin - just use twiki/bin/rest/YourPlugin/..., implement the corresponding plugin handler, and in your plugin's initPlugin routine register it with TWiki::Func::registerRESTHandler('example', \&restExample);. However, the documentation at TWikiScripts is not really what I'd call inviting (the example fails with a code 500).

For simple uses, MiniAhah is using the view script to do AJAX stuff with the help of auxiliary topic (which could be simplified since TWiki 4.1 where section can be used as a parameter to view).

-- HaraldJoerg - 30 Mar 2007

Using the bin/rest script is a very good option. We really need a good supplemental document called RestScriptCookbook that explains how to create REST enabled apps in TWiki.

If you use the view script, make sure to use the viewauth script instead for sites that use basic authentication.

The desired action via viewauth script can be achieved with URL parameters to the current topic (such as saving a table when using the EditTablePlugin), or with auxiliary topics as Harald pointed out (such as creating a new tag in the TagMePlugin).

-- PeterThoeny - 30 Mar 2007